Fact of the day

At the 1952 Olympics in Helsinki, Fritz Thiedemann - who had commanded a German cavalry unit during World War Two before being captured towards the end and interned in a Russian prison camp - created a unique piece of history. The farmer's son earned bronze medals in both individual show jumping and team dressage to become the only rider in Olympic history to win medals in two equestrian disciplines at the same Games. He went on to gold medals in team jumping at the 1956 Olympics, when the equestrian events were held in Stockholm, and Rome 1960. The Thiedemann rein is named after him.

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San Juan chosen as USA Swimming training camp ahead of Rio 2016

Sunday, 03 November 2013

By Paul Osborne

November 3 - San Juan in Puerto Rico has been selected as the pre-Olympic training camp the United States swimming team for Rio 2016, it has been revealed.

USA Swimming's national team director Frank Busch told the Olympic International Organising Committee (OIOC) that Puerto Rico, an unincorporated territory of the United States located in the northeastern Caribbean, had been chosen ahead of sites in Trinidad and Tobago and Brazil.

Pre-Olympic training camps give athletes the opportunity to adapt to changing time zones and undergo final preparations before the start of the Games.

For the London 2012, the US swim team first camped in Knoxville, Tennessee, for pre-Olympic training, before travelling to Vichy, France to complete final preparations and adjust to the five hour time difference from America to England.

This two-part training camp is seen regularly by USA Swimming, who camped in Palo Alto, California before travelling to Beijing to undergo final preparations in the build up to the 2008 Beijing Olympics.

Palo Alto was also used in the 2004 Athens Olympics as a domestic training camp for the Americans before they made their way to a site in Mallorca, Spain.

This two-part training system would not be as necessary for the American team coming into Rio 2016 due to the minor time difference between the United States East Coast time and Rio de Janeiro of just one hour.

This is not to say that the option is ruled out and USA Swimming may opt to use the two-part training routine that has led them to major success at a number of Olympic Games.

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